Management systems integration: survey results

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the results from a survey carried out among Portuguese companies with their management systems (MSs) certified according to, at least two of the following standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. In addition, the results from a second survey conducted amid a group of experts that pointed out several aspects that impact on the integration level will be dissected. Design/methodology/approach The phenomenon of MSs integration is hardly transferable to a contained environment so some of the common research methods traditionally adopted include case studies, surveys, interviews and observation in situ. The findings from two surveys online among Portuguese companies and Portuguese experts are reported in the current paper. Findings The results suggest that a set of common characteristics is present on the majority of the surveyed companies. On first hand, there is evidence of an effective integration of the policies and the existence of an integrated system manager on the organizational structure of the companies. On the other hand, results suggest that training was provided to top management concerning integration issues, an integrating concept was taken into account during the implementation process and tools, and methods and objectives of the subsystems are aligned. Research limitations/implications This paper addresses the issues raised in the mainstream scientific bibliography through the collection of information amidst Portuguese companies. At this stage, it is not possible to infer at which extent the conclusions may be transferable to other geographic contexts. The small number of companies that completed the survey precludes the statistical generalization of the findings but the analytical generalization is not impaired. Originality/value The authors believe that the conclusions of this paper may aid both practioneers and scholars in the understanding of a complex but manageable organizational phenomenon. In addition, through the contents of this paper companies may collect information regarding the pertinent issues to address when developing their IMSs.

Quality and Environmental Management Linkage: A Review of the Literature

“…These were excluded in the post-screening phase, taking into account the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These represent a prolific line of research in the literature related to the integration of meta-standards (e.g., [91][92][93][94][95][96][97]). This rather 'technical' perspective of analysis has underlined that the integration of systems for QM and EM brings a series of benefits in addition to those already obtained individually with each of the systems (e.g., [41,98]).…”

Hseq at Shared Industrial Workplaces: Experiences From Collaboration on Supplier Audits

“…Integrating aspects of HSEQ (or its analogues, such as SHEQ or EHSQ) is a widespread trend in the practices of industrial buyers. The theoretical and practical knowledge accreting around integrated management systems (see, e.g., Domingues et al, 2017;Ribeiro et al, 2017) could provide ideas for future development of the HSEQ AP.…”

Guiding principles of integrated management systems: Towards unifying a starting point for researchers and practitioners

“…In an IMS, the elements and functions that are common to the various systems (QMS, EMS, OHSMS, CSRMS, among others) could be gradually integrated in order to ensure a more efficient management, that is, that saves resources, time and reduces efforts by eliminating duplication of tasks, procedures and other bureaucracies (Zeng et al, 2011;Nunhes et al, 2016). The studies on IMS began before the 2000s (e.g., pioneers Zwetsloot, 1995;Karapetrovic and Willborn, 1998) and M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT since then it has been developed in a basically progressive way, with many researches being published on this subject every year (Domingues et al, 2017;Bernardo et al, 2017).…”

“…The studies directed to IMS have gone, in large part, to present approaches to amalgamate the knowledge generated in the last two decades. According to Domingues et al (2017) this analysis of successful cases, evolutions, discussions, etc. are extremely necessary so that benchmarking can be promoted and thus solid foundations for the development of the IMS area can be built.…”